The Furious

Sometimes the action in martial arts movies can feel a little too floaty and unimpactful for me. If it's a straight up wuxia film where they're flying around and shit, that's great. Love that shit. If it's something like this that is a little more grounded in tone (they aren't flying 50 feet in the air) then it runs the risk of artificially inflating the action. Because at its worst, you watch someone do 80 different moves and there's little to no oomph to any of it. And that's cool when it's more fantastical, but this is gritty so there's a bit of dissonance. Maybe I'm the only one that feels that way.

Which doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. Look, I really dug this movie. I just don't think holistically this movie can get to the "I love it" 90 tier in my ratings. The choreography and athleticism kept its head way above water at all times because they do some serious neat shit here. Since everybody compares it to The Raid, I think I was a little harsh (still liked a lot but probably underrated it) on it back in the day, but this is a solid movie in that vein. Fans of The Raid should adore this.

I have to give special credit to the final big fight though. There was technically a brief 1v1 after where it's like they're in a Yakuza game because they pick up bikes and start beating each other with them, but I mean the indoors fight. I'm a little too liberal with my ratings sometimes but I seriously considered giving this a 90 because of it. It starts off with a 2v2 which is entertaining enough in its own right, but once that big dude comes rushing in and joins the action, it kicks it up several notches. At first you think it's going to be a 3v2, but then it becomes a triple-threat match, and it's glorious. I was smiling.

It probably is deserving of a 90. It's personal preference. I like, for example, I prefer the better South Korean revenge flicks because while the fighting is not always as good as this, I'm willing to trade a little choreography for shots that feel like they count. When The Furious nails that--such as in the final big fight--it is a truly marvelous spectacle.